What the lesson is about

“Film Review” is a series of 10 lessons on the moving image film review component of AQA GCSE English language, put together by TESEnglish, but it may interest Scottish teachers. It includes a teacher handbook, scheme of work and student log.

How to use it

A lesson on genre includes a card sort activity, where pupils classify films ranging from Jaws to High School Musical, and a task where they have to identify genre features in the trailers for Saving Private Ryan, The Notebook and Avatar, plus cards that can be used for a plenary.

A lesson on music asks pupils to listen to the music in scenes from four films and describe its tone, what mood it creates and its effect on the audience, with reference to Moulin Rouge, The Rock and Gladiator. Another lesson looks at how images can be used to create an impression of character, using the examples of Darth Vader, James Bond and Maximus from Gladiator.

Taking it further

Lessons examining the technical side of film-making include activities on different types of camera shots, and filmic techniques, based on a scene from Black Hawk Down, which also includes a peer-assessment task.

Two lessons look at the structure, content and language of writing film reviews, covering the key features of a print-based review with examples of reviews of Saving Private Ryan and World Trade Centre, and online reviews of Titanic and Munich.

The concluding lessons examine assessment criteria and target grades, including tips on how to be successful in the controlled assessment and cards on how to achieve a target grade.

Where to find it

www.tes.co.ukgcseenglishlanguage.